House Sues Bush Aides Over Subpoenas

Lawsuit calls on Miers, Bolton to talk about fired prosecutors
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 10, 2008 6:40 PM CDT
House Sues Bush Aides Over Subpoenas
White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington in this Feb. 7, 2005 file photo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)   (Associated Press)

Lawmakers sued two top Bush aides today to make them testify about the sacking of federal prosecutors in 2006. The House Judiciary Committee suit seeks to enforce subpoenas against White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former Bush counsel Harriet Miers, who have refused to testify or supply subpoenaed papers. "We will not allow the administration to steamroll Congress," one lawmaker said.

The White House dismissed the civil suit—the first such action by lawmakers against the White House in US history—as an exercise in “partisan theater.” The move follows a House vote last month that cited Bolten and Miers for contempt of Congress, which the Justice Department ignored because it had advised them not to testify, the Washington Post reports. (More Michael Mukasey stories.)

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